The 2011 Black Bike Week (May 26-30) in Myrtle Beach, SC just ended and the NAACP has already filed a class action lawsuit against the city for its alleged pattern of discrimination against black bikers.

Each year the civil rights group is in town to monitor fairness of rally compared to the Harley-Davidson event held the week before. During Black Bike Week, the NAACP hosts “Operation Bike Week Justice” to monitor police activity, traffic patterns and local businesses. Attendees can report incidents by calling a toll free number.

In past years the group stated that more than 40 percent of the businesses in Myrtle Beach have closed during Black Bike Week…Rev. Nelson Rivers III, vice president of stakeholder relations for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said that NAACP focuses specifically on Myrtle Beach because of its “sordid and sorry history,” and because the city has “created an almost terroristic atmosphere” by unfairly prosecuting its laws more strictly during the predominantly black-attended Bikefest than it does during the annual Harley-Davidson Spring Cruisin’ the Coast rally and calling in too many additional law enforcement officers, which is intimidating.

“It’s the same stuff they say every year, and it’s as untrue as it was when they began saying it seven or eight years ago,” Myrtle Beach City Manager Tom Leath said. “We do not discriminate.” Over the seven years of Operation Bike Week Justice, the NAACP has filed more than a dozen lawsuits with the S.C. Human Affairs Commission.

If there is more crime or general lawless activity the public safety department would be remiss in not reenforcing with more manpower.

For the moment, we still live in a so called free capitalist society. So now we have an organization trying to tell businesses they have to stay open just because a particular group of people are in town. I’m sure if the business owners thought they could make a dollar they would stay open.

Most of us business types see only one color: GREEN.

I suppose the advocate group IMCOLD (IMported Citizens On Loan Downsouth) will file suit to insure the hotels and restaurants are open all winter just in case this group wants to stop in when they escape the great white north.

You’re really ignorant of the facts and of the laws. This blog isn’t a billboard for verification of youir shortcomings.

Wheresthebeef,

How white of you.

Walt Lumpkin,

Should you be interested in delving into factual representation, you may find that any increases in crime in the area have not been due to the bikers. Rather, it has been gossip and vigilante actions of local, non bikers that have been at the roots of this highly politicized story.

It’s called RACISM! Bikers, rightfully raise hell when they are discriminated against…bike only road inspections, pull overs for loud pipes, not permitting bikes in certain ‘exclusive” neighborhoods. There is a town in Mn. that executes the law to the “enth” degree on bikers but seem to overlook cars rolling stop signs, loud pipes etc. The AMA, ABATE and other biker advocate groups fight to eliminate this kind of discrimination. It’s a GOOD thing that the NAACP is doing their job and attempting to right this wrong. As Shifter implied, discrimination against one biker is discrimination against all bikers.

I have gone to many many shows all around the country and I can say from my experience as well as ALL of the vendors I have talked to who do this show, that Black Bike Week is a much rougher show than any other.

More theft. More fights. More rowdyness and more *crime* than at Bike week, Biketoberfest, Sturgis, Laconia, etc, etc.

The police are just responding to what the attendees are doing. Does anyone think the businesses there are so overtly racist that they close on BBW just to screw black people? Sorry, there is little place for racism when it comes to money – those businesses would love to take the $$ from the BBW attendees. They close because there is a much higher chance of fights, shootings, theft, vandalism and such during the BBW event.

And for anyone who doesn’t get it – it really *isn’t* about race. It’s about crime and the job the police are tasked to do. If I want to catch drug dealers, I send my cops to the ghetto, not the upper class neighborhoods. That doesn’t mean there is no drug dealing in the upper class areas, it just means there is less of it than in poor ‘hoods.

No different than BBW. If anyone wants to disagree with my personal experiences, go ahead and look up and post the crime stats per person for Myrtle Beach vs BBW.

Would be interesting to go back 5 or 10 years ago and see the crime statistics per 1000 attendee’s between the weeks. Look at the data: arrests, moving violations, business owners reports of theft, hotel owners reports of damages, owners who report or experienced “dine n dash” episodes at their food establisments, and the like.

Would a business owner miss an opportunity to capitalize on sales in this economy? My guess is probably not.

Are some of the NAACP supporters suggesting business owners close that week because they do not like blacks who are willing to spend U.S. currency in their establishments?

When I use to go to Myrtle Beach in years past, I never recalled seeing a bartender walk away from any none whites with money in their hand at the bar ordering a drink.

There is one definite solution instead of crying about it, BOYCOTT! Don’t go to the city if the have any kind of discriminatory actions, I am not going to attend any kind of event in Myrtle Beach, or any city that exhibits this kind of action towards any bike related group.I don’t care if you are black, purple, brown, red, or green, if they discriminate against any group don’t go. Do you think that if Sturgis, Daytona Beach, Laughlin or anyother city played these games people would come back?

I’m surprised these commercialized events still garner substantial attendance. Overcrowding of any kind can cause friction, and mix that with alcohol and various social-economic groups(regardless of race, color, creed) there will always be pockets of disruption. Too bad the easy target is recreational motorcyclists. One could speculate there is a political element involved at the local/regional level much deeper than we know or care to talk about.

The bigger cliche is the segregation of so called “Bike Weeks”. This is an old paradigm, not a respected tradition; time to evolve.

You know guys, I really get “ticked” when I see articles like this as people tend to jump to conclusions that they know nothing about. Let’s be real here and call it like it is.
Brand-ism and Racism, (Yes, I said it) are alive and well in some parts of the biker culture on BOTH sides of the fence! Not with everyone, mind you, and even not with most people, but over the course of the 25+ years I’ve been riding I have heard, more than once, “You’re not on a H-D, you can’t ride with us” or “He rides with THOSE people, so he can’t ride with us”, these comments have been spoken to me by Black and White Riders alike, and so on and so forth, the lists and excuses are endless. To paraphrase, “Why can’t we all get along”. The days of a black rider taking his life in his hands by showing up at a major rally like Sturgis, Laconia or even Daytona are over and have been for sometime. I’ve been to all these places and with very few exceptions been welcomed with camaraderie and friendship.
If I have ran into any “Attitudes” it was always a fellow rider/brother who took the corrective action, very rarely did I even know about till after the fact. I was taught “old school” by a bunch of guys who past along their wisdom, when it was not too cool to do so, to a kid from the inner city. They used to call it “Holding your Mud”, Don’t disrespect anyone and don’t let anyone disrespect you and yours. Ride your bike, well and even if they don’t like you, they will respect you as a rider.
I never have understood or have seen the need for separate rallies anyway.
Maybe once upon a time, Yes, but not now….
With all due respect and props to Sugar Bear and all the Black bike builders and riders that endured all the crap that came before, I’m no “Uncle Tom”, but I would just like to see EVERYONE, no matter what you are or brand you are on, just get together and ride, isn’t that what it’s all about anyway? We ALL have 2 wheels in common, does not matter if you are white, black, H-D or Metric rider, green or purple-poker dotted, I’ll ride with the people that I have things in common with and can share those experiences in true brotherhood.
NO MORE SEPERATE RALLIES, EVER!!
If they come to take the bikers away, then let them come and try to take ALL the bikers away! Just remember the old story, when they came and got everybody else and I did not say anything to stop them, then, they came for me and no one was left to say anything for me !!!
(By the way I am a Black man, riding a custom Metric, in a Southern state. If you don’t believe me, ask Cyril)

Daytona Beach has the exact same issue. During Black Spring Break, most of the bars, businesses, stripbars etc… close for some reasons. Last year they explained that there was too much violence and disrespect so most businesses decided not to open.

I grew up in the 50s and 60s and I was really lucky to come from a multicultural neighborhood of working class people, who all pulled together. Now I am really happy to notice that kids in school seldom give a damn what color someone is or what country they came from… it’s just a few in an older generation that still preach separatism to their younger family members.. that is where it comes from, the parents. But if there are laws being broken, the police should arrest the law breakers. I agree with Blackmax… why do we need a “Harley” rally and a “Black” bike week? There were plenty of people who told me Myrtle Beach would kill the rally and then let it come back as Harley sans the black bike week. To me that is just wrong… They should get help from the organizers and the biker community to self-police if there are problems. Isn’t that the biker way, self-policing these rallies?

I agree with Steve! If we had Harley Bike week, would we kick out all NON-Harley riders?…maybe, maybe not… I’m not a black man but would I be allowed to attend Black Bike Week?? How would I be treated as a non-black man riding in Black Bike Week?

THE EVENT IS DISCRIMINATORY and those who created it should be answering the same questions given to those who ‘discriminate’ during the event!!

give up that BLACK/WHITE stuff…we’re AMERICANS!! We should consider all brothers!

First Sarah Palin/politics and now BBW/racisim allegations. Normally, I prefer not to respond to forums or blogs on these topics when the said forum/blog is NOT specifically designed for such topics. This blog for me has more to do with the essence of motorized, two-wheeled locomotion. However, in this case there is something I want to say.

If 40% of the businesses close during BBW then those businesses are closed equally for those of black, white, yellow, and red pigmentation, cage drivers, everyone! That’s not discrimination. Businesses have the right not to support whatever they choose. If they close, they close to all potential patrons.

I really hate when the NAACP or or another race based group does this kind of shit.

Do a “White Bike Week” or hell for that matter any kind of bikeweek that implies it is White Bikeweek, Indian Bikeweek, Hispanic Bikeweek, etc…and see what kind of stink stirs in the air with black bikers and the NAACP. Boycott Myrtle beach like most of have here if it is an issue that bothers you because you are black…Hell It was my favorite place years ago, but when the laws changed, I moved along with my friends….black or white, we ride and we ride where we are wanted please.

I have retail stores, I treat all fairly without race, gender or sex coming into play, even Bubba and Billy Beer are treated the same as all others…..But you act up, we act up to…get the point….As an independent businessman I serve who I wish, when I choose, close for inventory, cleaning, store maintenance, shampooing the carpet, reflooring the store, painting or remodeling, product shortages, etc…when I damn well want. Nothing prejudice or racist or sexist or gender based….that’s a fact…I reserve the right to refuse service to anyone at anytime and open and damn well close as I like! If I want to go have a beer or go to dinner or even go for a ride, I set the alarm, lock down and go…Period. You don’t like how I run my business, then open up a store, bar or restaurant across the street and run it your way…maybe just be open for black bike week if you like and closed the rest of the year or during the HD bikeweek…its your money and your choice. If the NAACP or the Damn Govt. wants to run my business, then I will gladly hand them the keys when they pay my bills, commit to my terms & ROI with annual increases and profit sharing. Till then, stay the fuck out of my life and stop raising color based issues.

I live in Myrtle beach, and I’m a business owner. Here’s the difference between the two rally’s… Spring rally is 71 years old, buck week not even 10. Attendees of the spring rally have respect, take thier empty beer bottles to the trash. They pay for thier meals and have respect for where they stay when here. Buckweekers ( I call it that because they have earned it ) vandalize property, throw bottles, and act like jack asses. I close my business because I don’t want a loss. In short, if you don’t like the way I do business, move on. I rode down ocean blvd and was shocked to see broken glass everywhere, not to mention the litter and vandalism. The truth is I don’t agree with the way MB government has handled things as far as the two bike weeks. Spring rally has suffered because of the actions of buckweekers. Don’t get me wrong, they’re law breakers on both sides, buckweekers are worse of all. I’ll say what Myrtle beach is scared to say…if you can’t respect your vacation property, don’t come here! The naacp is nothing more than a cloke for buckweekers to act up, then cry racism when we call them out. Blacks have been playing the racist card for so long that it’s getting old as bojangles. They won’t come during spring rally because white bikers won’t take thier shit! The clean up on ocean blvd. is estimated to be over 300 thousand dollars this year for buckweek! We don’t have that problem during spring rally. We can’t say anything about them wearing malcom x clothes, yet cry racism when we wear confederate flags. My ancestors fought in the civil war and am proud of it! I think the naacp should regulated and policed for ethics.

I’m no criminologist but it seems to me that if 75% of all violent crime in America was committed by guys with red hair and freckles, it wouldn’t be the least bit unreasonable to expect law enforcement personnel to take extra precautions whenever a large group of people fitting that description congregate in a particular city, especially when these guys with red hair and freckles consistently wreak havoc whenever and wherever they congregate.

Nor do I think it’s unreasonable for small business owners to choose to close when these guys with red hair and freckles congregate in their city after they’ve repeatedly proven year after year that they have no respect for the property or rights of others.

Yes, Myrtle Beach’s city commission made a mockery of the law in their attempt to bring peace to their city, and yes, they fully deserve to have their rallies boycotted by all motorcyclists until the end of time for their underhanded actions, but ask any Myrtle Beach store or restaurant owner what their city looks like right after the guys with red hair and freckles leave.

Wow, A lot of the same old bullshit from the naacp bunch as they have nothing better to do! Race card this, race card for that, and what is next,…. I’m sure the lazy blacks will find an excuse or so call reason to have a beef against whitey for something…. for sure if they can make a lawsuit out of it…. FREE MONEY!!!!!! For sur MO-FO. I grew up on the south side of Chicago as a youngster and move about an hour south of the city later in life, and know a bit about racism…. what I learned as a young man was there was more hate from the black side of the fence… so what if you don’t like that, but look at where I’m coming from,………. some of the black hate, I can see as blacks wanting to justify a wrong they feel has been done to them (either personally, or to one of their brothers or sisters). But, a lot of it is just HATE! for the sake of hating something or someone that isn’t alive or something that happened over 200 years ago. WTF! That shit didn’t happen to you! Don’t give me any of that crap about not having equal opportunities… Nobody gave me a damn thing that I didn’t work for! I am not wealthy and do not run a buisness, but it would seem to me that if an event didn’t support my buisness and provide a profit, and on top of that possibly cost me money, common sense would be to close for that event…. and that ain’t racism, that’s just buisness. Duh,… but no, the black man feels slighted and he wants some dat free money,… same ol, same old bullshit! Tell me this, when do I get a race card,… Yea, how about a reverse, and that white man gets some….. F… that, I work for a living and if people don’t treat me right, I go somewhere else! SIMPLE, and does anyone remember when H-D dealers did not want real bike people in their buisnesses,… this is what helped the aftermarket get it’s real start and the rest is history. 25 – 30 years ago, most hated me or my kind,… now, they want to be us!

Seems like that BBW and the early days of Hollister have congruences. .

IMHO BBW represents a group of hard partyin, ridin bunch much like the guys in the 40’s at Hollister, but with bling and less grit. That’s cool. White Bike Weeks are now Police Rallies full of outlaw wannabes. Thats lame.

What’s frustrating is the profiling of white bikers; they have no NAACP protection when they want to let loose, rather spend a weekend in the clink.

NAACP is hypocritical by nature, fueled by politico self serving interests. They don’t give a shit about the rights of the people, they care about Liberal / Gov funding to line their pockets; in this instance, its a chance to stir up controversy based on a sensitive situation. Oh and lets not forget about the USDA f-up in Georgia a while back :

BBW members, if you want to be bikers, conduct yourselves as such, good or bad. Just dont cry for protection when you get slack for being assholes.

RE:
“…, I’ll ride with the people that I have things in common with and can share those experiences in true brotherhood….”

Spot On…. !!!

Look, this is such a simple proposition, anything else is a pointless waste of time.
Why spend your money in a place that pisses you off.
Why go where there are people with whom you have nothing in common.

Seems that many folks that are commenting on this thread have forgotten events of recent history that are pivotal to this story.

Do you recall that a mayor of Myrtle Beach got loads of publicity thinking that he was right when he said that he wanted to nudge a biker with his bumper when he took exception to the sentiments expressed on a t-shirt?

Do you recall the fifteen laws introduced by Myrtle Beach to curtail MB bike week?

Y’all are whiney.

It seems that the NAACP involvement is going to be beneficial to all bikers.

Complaining about legal representation of motorcyclists by an ethnically originated group seems disingenuous. Are you complaining because you couldn’t get anything done as motorcyclists or is the complaint that your whining as white motorcyclists was impotent and ineffective?

Quit adding to the divisiveness.

Motorcyclists are a minority. The government is doing its best to fracture our community. Don’t buy into their bullshit. Stand together.

If anything it’ll be detrimental to all bikers. If one group of bikers is causing much more problems, lumping them in with all of us does not help. Kind of like they were all lumped together in the 50’s? The people I’ve talked to from the MB area say the difference between the two rallies was “night & day” and they weren’t talking about skin color. It’s easy to rush to a brother’s defense, sometimes harder to accept they were in the wrong. Unless one is willing to accept that the residents of MB are racists to the point of throwing away their own incomes to punish black people, one has to believe there may be a problem the NAACP is unwilling to admit to.

It sure seem funny how a lot of you guys are so willing to say it would be OK for the police to stop anyone that is black if more crime tends to happen when some blacks are present. But what about the fact that a lot but not all patch wearing club members cause trouble at these rallies. Is it OK for the cops to now stop all members of any bike club. HELL NO just as it is NOT OK for those same cops to stop and harrass any one who is black. Wake up people any type of discrimination is bad for all of us and should not be tolerated.

And as for Myrtle beach and their rally F*@K THEM. Go some where that we are wanted and appreciated.

One more thing as for some of you saying that there should be a white bike week. Why do you think the black bike week started in the first place? It was because some of those redneck inbreds would not and did not allow blacks at the bike week and that is the very reason you have bike week then black bike week.

I used to vend at HD and I knew the lady that ran the vendor lot for myrtle beach Harley a few years ago and we had a conversation about this very matter. I asked her if she had any problems with the black bike week and the people that came to Myrtle Beach for that event. She told me that she ran vendor locations for both events and neither was a problem. She also told me that most people in Myrtle hated both rallies and would like to end both. The excuse that the black bikers are trouble makers is just an excuse to stop both rallies.

I have been going to bike rallies for several decades and pretty much been to them all here in the US. The only one that seems to stand out every year with controversy is Myrtle Beach. The NAACP is a joke anyway. Why now and not during the bike rally before black bike week? They close down businesses for it as well. I seems that the NAACP is the group that is discriminatiing. I don’t have anything good to say about the city of Myrtle Beach because of the way that they treat all bikers. Not just the black ones. But to say that the city of Myrtle Beach is discriminating against the Blacks. What about the event itself? “Black Bike Week” Sounds kinda of discriminating against the white folks.

Isn’t white a color too?

Hey NAACP, I want to sue the promotors of BBW for discriminating against the white people. After all, the event the week before isn’t called “White Bike Week” Wouldn’t that mean that they only want black people at their rally? I’m a little confused.

The city of Myrtle Beach get what they deserve by discriminating against all bikers. But don’t just defend people because of their color. That makes them just a racist.

Sharpo; The rally is not officially called Black Bike Week. That is just the name that has been used as a generic term to discribe the event. Whites are welcome to attend that week just as most people that do the bike week event the prior week dont mind black riders being there and enjoying the event. Lets be totally honest here. Most blacks riders dont have a problem with white riders just as most white riders dont have a problem with black riders. It is a case of the minority on both side ruining it for the majority on both sides.
There is racist people in every color of man and even when the day comes that we all look the same
“color wise” there will still be those that will hate you for how tall or short you are or how thin or fat you are. Or hate you for having a big nose or hate you because you have more money than they do. In other words hatred will never go away and that is the reason for racism plain and simple. We as humans even those that dont mean to be racist will tend to strike out at the most obvious differences we have, making racist statement.
That is why when some one cuts you off on the highway you will yell “you stupid fat bastard”
or ” you stupid honky mother f*cker”. Racism will only go away completely when we all look alike until then some of us Humans will use color as reason to hate others. And after the day we all look alike some will start hating for other reasons as stated above.

The NAACP is a dinosuar that has way outlived any usefulness. The proof of this is right there in the name…National Association For the Advancement of Colored People. Colored People…are you shitting me? They perpetuate the racism, because without it, what would they be able to get angry about, what would the excuse be for bad behavior be then? How would they justify all the entitlement. You were never a slave and I was never a slave owner….it’s time to let all this stupid shit go. If MB hates bikers, fuck them…we should ALL show up there at once, or not at all.

When you are singled out solely because of your race , it is racism. When you are singled out because of your behavior it is not. Too often white and black bikers alike are broad-brushed because of the behavior of a few. Let everyman be judged according to his own individual character.

I have a few thought on this issue but 1 clearly sticks out in my mind if there was a bike week called “white bike week” african americans would be raising he’ll but its ok for there to be a black bike week. C’mon!everyone wants to be equal so quit separating yourselves by race. Who cares what colors you are. If you don’t like how your treated move your rally to a community that will be happy to take your money for the week. As far as the NAACP,in my opinion they are the equivalent to the KKK. I know many of you wont agree. That’s ok. Just my opinion. Im sure the NAACP have done many good things but I think it is groups like these that encourage the racism. If not for racism they would be out of a job.